My Pledge to Prince William County

As the Occoquan District Supervisor, my first priority will be to protect the taxpayers. I believe that people make better choices with their hard-earned money than government does, and I’ll fight every day for the taxpayers of Prince William County. For too long, our Board of County Supervisors has raised taxes and increased spending. Now Prince William County has the highest tax rate in Northern Virginia, and we still have – crowded classrooms, clogged roads, stagnant wages, and bloated government. I will be a servant leader who respects the taxpayer.

The Issues

Growing the Local Economy

Prince William County is a beautiful, historic place to live and play, but we can all agree that we don’t have enough living wage jobs. When citizens can choose to live and work in the same community, then they’ll spend less time on the road and more time with their families.

We need to re-think our Economic Development strategy in PWC. Our county needs to aggressively offer incentives to grow the economy and our economic development staff needs to focus on recruiting employers. I’m tired of seeing employers move to Fairfax and Stafford Counties instead of PWC.

Existing business owners are also frustrated with an increasing amount of “red tape” in the processes for starting or expanding businesses. It’s nearly impossible for a business to expand, let alone a new business to open. I’ll push to expose and erase these barriers to inspire job creation so that our local economy can flourish.

Budget Accountability

Just recently some local politicians voted to spend YOUR MONEY to build the most expensive high school in the entire Commonwealth of Virginia. The plans include pools and a theater with a powered orchestra lift…this is not the approach we need when our schools have the most overcrowded classrooms in Virginia. And, instead of giving the taxpayers some tax relief or investing the money to improve our public safety response times, a decision was approved to spend $11 million dollars on a road beautification project. We need to focus our limited tax dollars on only the highest priority items. The bottom line is that there is plenty of pork in the county budget, but there is not enough political courage to stand up and do what’s right. I will fight for you on the Board of County Supervisors to cut wasteful spending and restore taxpayer accountability.

Getting Taxes Under Control

Prince William County has the highest tax rate in Northern Virginia and one of the highest tax rates in the entire state. Our neighboring counties have cut taxes and now their economies are growing. For the last four years, our Board of County Supervisors rejected proposals to hold the line on taxes. Instead they have voted to raise taxes over and over again. Now a working family can go to Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier or Stafford Counties and pay lower tax rates. In fact, just this year the PWC BOCS voted to increase property taxes by almost 20% over the next five years. It’s time to do something about this.

Education

Our teachers deserve a pay raise, our overcrowded classrooms should meet student to teacher ratio standards and our parents deserve more educational options. Bottom line…our kids deserve the best education we can provide and the taxpayers deserve a transparent budget. The excuses need to end, and I’ll stand up to fight for real results.

Transportation

Just like you, I’ve spent my fair share of time stuck in traffic. We’ve spent a lot of money in recent years but the congestion seems to keep getting worse. We need to invest in our infrastructure and expand options for our commuters. I believe we need to spend our limited dollars on projects that will actually relieve traffic congestion.